Playing career over, two-time Twin Ryan LaMarre looks back with no regrets

The University of Michigan’s athletics website celebrated Valentine’s Day in 2021 by spotlighting five couples that had met as Wolverines and were now married.

Among those were baseball player Ryan LaMarre from Jackson, Mich., and tennis player Whitney Taney from Edina.

As home-state legends went, Taney had the advantage, going 166-0 (150 singles, 16 doubles) in six varsity seasons with the Hornets, and being named the 2007 National High School Coaches Association Player of the Year.

LaMarre also did OK for himself at Lumen Christi Catholic in Jackson, earning four letters each in three sports: baseball, football and hockey. He was all-state in hockey a couple times, and he met Gordie Howe, which is another version of the “Gordie Howe hat trick.”

Hockey was LaMarre’s favorite sport, but the best opportunity was to play baseball as an outfielder for Michigan. He had a solid freshman season, an excellent sophomore season (.344, 12 homers and 62 RBI) and would be well-scouted entering his draft-eligible junior season in 2010.

“Opening day, I rolled up on my left thumb against Texas Tech and broke it,” LaMarre said. “I made it back as a pinch runner for the first Big Ten weekend, and started hitting in Week 2.”

And he didn’t stop hitting: In 36 games, he batted .419, with five home runs and 40 RBI.

LaMarre was drafted in the second round by the Cincinnati Reds and received a signing bonus of $587,700. Taney was completing her excellent Michigan tennis career and finishing her degree in 2011.

Whitney came home to Edina and was a tennis assistant with the Gophers. Ryan had spent his first seven pro seasons with Cincinnati and Boston, with a total of 26 games and 32 at-bats in the big leagues.

The wedding took place Dec. 31, 2016, at Our Lady of Grace church in Edina. And then Ryan embarked on six more pro seasons (plus a COVID-canceled year) with six more organizations, restricted to mini-runs in the big leagues, but with enough moments to say this past week:

“I feel very at peace. It has been what I hoped for in baseball, which was many good experiences and making friends for life. I was ready after 2022, really, to quit, then the Twins gave me a chance last year to play for a while in St. Paul, so I did that.

“There was no doubt I was retiring this time. We have the second boy. Lucas is a year now, and Teddy is 3½.”

When contacted for an interview, LaMarre said it would work after the “Bash Brothers” were put to bed.

So there’s a little roughhousing for Teddy with the baby?

“No, he’s great with the baby, but Teddy has been watching too much baseball,” LaMarre said. “He loves to slide into things. That might be a reason that Lucas only takes a few steps. He’s afraid Teddy is going to slide into him.”

The Twins signed LaMarre to a minor league contract before the 2018 season, with an invite to spring training. He wound up competing against Zack Granite to be an extra outfielder.

The team left Florida early to play an exhibition with the Nationals in Washington on March 28. LaMarre scored a run in the ninth on Mitch Garver’s hit, pushing the Twins to a 3-1 victory. And then 15 minutes later, LaMarre was told by manager Paul Molitor and baseball CEO Derek Falvey he was on the team.

He played in 43 games for the Twins, his highlights including an RBI single in the 16th inning to end a marathon game against Cleveland in Puerto Rico. When put on waivers before the All-Star Game, he was claimed by the White Sox and played 33 games for them. Those were 76 of his 128 games in the big leagues.

The Twins brought him back for 23 at-bats in September 2019. He contributed two home runs to the Bomba Squad’s record-breaking total of 307.

There was one more crazy experience in his last big-league stop, the Yankees, in 2021.

“The Yankees called me up in July when Aaron Hicks got hurt, and the first game was with Boston at Yankee Stadium,” LaMarre said. “I hit a two-run home run. Then I won a game with a pinch-hit walk-off against the Phillies. I hit another home run in Tampa. And then I was released.

“It was an unforgettable week, though.”

The LaMarres are living in a condo they own near the ballpark in Jupiter, Fla.. Ryan has about three more weeks to finish his degree remotely in sports management.

What’s next?

“Depends on what I can find as a job,” he said. “Maybe Minnesota. That would be OK. I’ve played some pond hockey on the rink Mauer built next to his home — with Joe, Justin [Morneau] and those guys. Joe — Hall of Fame baseball, great in football and basketball, but I can’t believe he didn’t play hockey. He’s excellent.”

Good experiences and friends for life. That, a baseball career makes.